Germany´s football stars set to honour tragic Enke

November 15, 2009

German football stars past and present will gather in Hanover on Sunday to pay their last respects to tragic goalkeeper Robert Enke, who committed suicide last week.

Enke, 32, who had been set to travel with the Germany squad to next June’s 2010 World Cup in South Africa, flung himself under a busy commuter train at a small town near Hanover last Tuesday evening having suffered from depression.

The tragedy has stunned football-mad Germany and the national team’s planned friendly against Chile on Saturday was called off as a mark of respect.

A public memorial service will be held at 11:00 am (1000 GMT) in Hanover 96’s stadium, which the entire Germany squad — led by captain Michael Ballack — will attend, before Enke is buried in a private ceremony.

Representatives from Enke’s former clubs — Spanish giants Barcelona and Portugual’s Benfica — will attend while many former German football greats are also expected.

A tribute on behalf of the Germany squad will be printed in several newspapers here on Sunday.

“Robert inspired and moved many people both with his life story and his career,” said the text signed by Germany coach Joachim Loew, team manager Oliver Bierhoff and Ballack.

“Robert was both an exceptional sportsman and a wonderful human being.

“People like Robert are like stars. They shine brightly, even in the darkest night. They do not die but live in our hearts forever.”

Enke had been treated for depression since 2003 and had an acute fear of failure.

He leaves his wife Teresa, 33, and eight-month-old daughter Leila, whom the couple adopted in May after their two-year-old daughter Lara died from a heart infection. Enke will be buried next to his daughter.

With more than 50,000 mourners expected at the memorial service, the club’s 45,000-seater stadium is expected to be packed and two giant video screens will be erected outside for those who do not get in.

“We will see how much Robert Enke meant to some people and what a great personality he was,” said Hanover 96 president Martin Kind.

“The scale of the sympathy is overwhelming – not only in Hanover, but in all of Germany and even abroad.”

The service will be screened live on five German television channels and Enke’s coffin will be in the centre circle at the Bundesliga club before six of his former Bundesliga team-mates will carry him to his final resting place.

“We will all never forget Robert,” concluded his team-mates’ moving tribute.

BERLIN (AFP)

Tags: Barcelona, berlin, captain michael, captain Michael Ballack, commuter train, fear of failure, football greats, football mad, football stars, former clubs, german football, germany squad, giant video screens, great personality, hanover 96, joachim loew, last respects, Martin Kind, Michael Ballack, oliver bierhoff, portugual, private ceremony, Robert, robert enke, Teresa, wife teresa

A Champions League final with no fear of failure… It could be a classic

May 25, 2009

Major finals featuring the best teams and the best players, the ones we talk up in advance as being for the connoisseur, often turn out to be the most disappointing, don’t they? Maybe it’s stage fright, too much respect for the opposition or the stakes being just too high, but great teams often seem to save their worst football for finals.

There are exceptions, of course. The 2005 Champions League final between AC Milan and Liverpool produced exquisite football in the first half from the Italians, and drama that will live long in the minds of anyone who watched it as Liverpool came back.

But when you look back on other Champions League and World Cup finals, how many can you remember for the quality of the football more than the result itself?

There was little on show in last year’s game between Manchester United and Chelsea so why are so many people expecting this year’s contest between United and Barcelona to be so different?

I think there is a reason, and I hope I’m proved right by the events on Wednesday in Rome.

A football match can be ruined by almost anything but the surest route to a damp squib is fear of failure.

Neither side on Wednesday has any need to fear the consequences of a defeat. They’re both at the top of the tree domestically, and both have had recent experience of winning the Champions League. It goes without saying they’ll be desperate to win, but no one’s job will be on the line, no project will stand or fall by this one result. Both teams will expect to be back in another Champions League final soon enough.

The last time two outstanding and supremely self-confident teams met in a Champions League final was arguably 1999, when Manchester United faced Bayern Munich. The problem then was that neither side had recent experience of a final. United in particular seemed overawed and it was only the last couple of minutes that rescued what was otherwise a pretty dire match.

Looking further back down the list, the eye is drawn to 1994, when a Barcelona side that had won the competition two years previously, and included Pep Guardiola in midfield, suffered a humbling 4-0 defeat by AC Milan, who had lost the 2003 final to Marseille.

You may argue that the final was too one-sided to be remembered as a classic, but the performance from Milan will go down as one of the great ones.

Will Barcelona, United or both be able to play to that sort of level in Rome on Wednesday? Will Iniesta, Xavi and Messi find the perfect weight and direction on those passes around the penalty area to cut the English defence in two? Will United’s rampant counter-attacks make it another night to forget for Guardiola?

Whatever happens, I suspect we’ll be talking about it for a long time… as long as the two teams stay true to themselves.

PHOTO: Policemen show the UEFA Champions League trophy in front of the Arch of Constantine and Colosseum in Rome May 23, 2009. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

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